The present report covers the period from April 1, 2000 to March 31, 2001. In this period, the WIEGO project has been a major, and growing, field of activity. The two other main fields of activity of the GLI, through its Chair, have been the International Federation of Workers’ Education Association (IFWEA) (as president) and the Swiss labour movement (mostly in a consulting capacity). Other projects have had to be postponed and can only be initiated or resumed to the extent that the GLI develops further capacities.The GLI website has been in place since September of last year. It contains a great variety of information, studies and presentations related to labour movement interests, historical material, etc. Its webmaster, Mary Sayer, continues working on it as her time, and that of the GLI Chair, permits.
\nPaul Germanotta has also made an important contribution to the work of the GLI with his study on solidarity action, which is now completed.<\/p>\n
Meetings and Publications<\/strong> In 2000: In 2001: In addition to these meetings, the GLI Chair participated in the following meetings in other capacities:<\/p>\n In his capacity of president of the International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations (IFWEA):<\/p>\n In 2000: In 2001: In his capacity of Board member of the Coll\u00e8ge du Travail, Geneva: Board meetings: September 29, December 15, 2000<\/p>\n On October 18, 2000, the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB\/USS) asked the GLI Chair to represent it on the Board of the SOLIFONDS. In that capacity, he attended a Board meeting on November 14, 2000. The SOLIFONDS is the solidarity organization of the Swiss labour movement, which supports short-term projects and intervenes in emergencies in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Its Board (15 members) is composed of representatives of the SGB\/USS, the Social-Democratic Party and twelve solidarity NGOs.<\/p>\n In 2000, the SGB\/USS decided to establish a Trade Union Institute, for education and training. The GLI Chair was asked to participate in a working party to develop proposals for an international curriculum and contacts with similar institutions in other countries. This working party met twice (see above). The Institute has since been established and the GLI Chair has been invited to lecture on international trade unionism in April 2002.<\/p>\n Publications in the period under review authored by the GLI Chair, in addition to those mentioned above, also include:<\/p>\n Globalizaci\u00f3n y la politica del sindicalismo<\/em>, in: “Imaginaci\u00f3n democr\u00e1tica y globalizaci\u00f3n”, edited by Jos\u00e9 M. Roca, Ediciones Catarata, Madrid 2001 (also available on the GLI website).<\/p>\n “Trade Unions and NGOs: A Necessary Partnership for Social Development”, Civil Society and Social Movements Programme Paper Nr. 1, UNRISD, Geneva, 31 p., June 2000 (also available as a GLI paper publication and on the GLI website)<\/p>\n Qu’est-ce que le socialisme? \u2013 r\u00e9ponse \u00e0 Christoph Blocher<\/em>. This is a reply to the leader of the Swiss People’s Party, representing the right wing in Swiss politics. Blocher distributed a pamphlet last year (320,000 copies in the three national languages) entitled “Freedom rather than socialism” in which he argues that, because of their common reliance on the State, socialism, nazism and communism are closely related and represent variants of the same ideology. Unsurprisingly, the pamphlet contains grotesque distortions and falsehoods. In the absence of any significant reaction from the Left, the GLI Chair wrote a reply which was first published on December 13, 2000 by the independent socialist weekly Domaine Public<\/em> in Lausanne, and distributed as an insert in the daily Le Temps<\/em> (Geneva) with a circulation of approximately 52,000. (Le Temps<\/em> had also distributed Blocher’s pamphlet). A German translation was published on April 26, 2001 in P.S., the weekly of the Zurich Social-Democratic Party (with a circulation of 8,500). Both the French and German version are available on the GLI website (under Helv\u00e9tiques in French and Helvetica in German). Press reactions (in the original French and German), as well as an irate rejoinder by a Communist historian (in French), can be seen on the Domaine Public website: http:\/\/www.domainepublic.ch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Consultancies, Networks<\/strong> The GLI is an affiliate of the IFWEA (since its inception), and the GLI Chair has served as IFWEA President since 1992, having been elected at that time in his capacity of IUF General Secretary. At the IFWEA Executive Committee meeting in Dublin last February, he indicated that he wished to withdraw from that position as from the first EC meeting in 2002: in order to facilitate the transition to a new leadership at the next General Conference in 2004 and, he hopes, to become more available for GLI projects (such as the WIEGO programme).<\/p>\n The GLI Chair continues to serve on the Editorial Board of Antipode<\/em> (see Activities Report 1999).<\/p>\n Projects Completed in 2000<\/strong>
\nIn the period under review, the GLI Chair participated in the meetings listed below:<\/p>\n
\n(1) April 5: Antipode<\/em> Editorial Board Meeting, Pittsburgh
\n(2) April 15: Gewerkschaft Bau- und Industrie Jugendkurs “Internet und internationale Gewerkschaftsarbeit”, Z\u00fcrich (speech to the theme, unpublished)
\n(3) April 25: FGTB Li\u00e8ge-Huy-Waremme. Colloque: “De la PMEisation aux multinationales: Quelle action syndicale dans les enterprises?”, Li\u00e8ge (speech: Le mouvement syndical face \u00e0 la mondialisation<\/em> \u2013 unpublished)
\n(4) May 1: 1. Mai Komitee Thun: May Day Address (unpublished)
\n(5) May 9: SABZ\/CEO, R\u00e9union pr\u00e9paratoire, Institut syndical, Bern
\n(6) May 18: Aargauischer Gewerkschaftsbund, Jahresversammlung, Gr\u00e4nichen (speech: Internationale Zusammenarbeit: Gewerkschaften in einer globalisierten Welt<\/em> \u2013 unpublished)
\n(7) May 21-23: Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO): Second Annual Meeting, Cambridge MA, US, (speech: Organization and Representation in the Informal Economy<\/em> \u2013 unpublished)
\n(8) May 24: Seminar: “A Dialogue on Informal Sector Organizations \u2013 Developing a New Research Agenda” (Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT and WIEGO), Cambridge MA, US
\n(9) May 25-26: Seminar: “Rethinking the Informal Sector: a Dialogue Between Academics and Activists” (Radcliffe Public Policy Center and WIEGO), Cambridge MA, US
\n(10) May 29: SABZ\/CEO: R\u00e9union pr\u00e9paratoire, Institut syndical, Bern
\n(11) June 5: GLI Board Meeting, Geneva
\n(12) June 10: International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), Annual Meeting, Geneva
\n(13) June 19-22: International Restructuring Education Network (IRENE), Conference: “Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Sector: Initiatives and Alternatives to Self-Employment”, M\u00fclheim, Germany
\n(14) June 27-30: Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) event, press conference, panel discussion, ILO, Geneva
\n(15) June 29: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) Conference: “Visible Hands: Taking Responsibility for Social Development” (participation in a panel discussion on regulating big business, presentation on: Corporate social responsibility, trade unions and NGOs<\/em> \u2013 unpublished)
\n(16) August 29-31: 20th Anniversary Celebration of NSZZ Solidarno\u015b\u0107, Gdansk
\n(17): September 5-8: Visit to Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT), Casablanca
\n(18) September 7: ICFTU: R\u00e9union de la francophonie syndicale, Casablanca
\n(19) October 30 – November 3: 12th IUF Latin American Regional Conference, Cordoba, Argentina
\n(20) November 25: International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR) and Institute for Employment Rights (IER): Conference: “Globalisation, International Labour Standards and Trade Union Rights for the New Millenium”, London (presentation on an international perspective on labour rights \u2013 unpublished)
\n(21) December 3-4: WIEGO Organization and Representation Program, Advisory Group Meeting, Geneva<\/p>\n
\n(22) January 8\u201313: F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des travailleurs et des travailleuses du Qu\u00e9bec (FTQ): Session de perfectionnement du Bureau de la FTQ, Lac-\u00e0-l’Eau-Claire, Qu\u00e9bec (speech: L’ordre du jour syndical face \u00e0 la mondialisation<\/em> \u2013 on GLI website)
\n(23) January 26: ATTAC, Conf\u00e9rence internationale “L’Autre Davos” (Atelier: Mondialisation du capital et ses implications pour les organisations syndicales: vers un nouveau internationalisme syndical<\/em>), Z\u00fcrich (speech to the theme \u2013 unpublished)
\n(24) February 14-16: 10th IUF Asia and Pacific Regional Conference, Manila (speech on Union renewal and effectiveness under conditions of globalization<\/em> \u2013 unpublished)
\n(25) March 9-10: Diskussions-Retraite (chaired by Vasco Pedrina, President of the Swiss Building and Industrial Workers’ Union (GBI\/SIB) and by Paul Rechsteiner, President of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB\/USS), Rotschuo<\/p>\n
\n(26) May 5: Euro-WEA Executive Committee, Paris
\n(27) June 16-18: Euro-WEA Executive Committee, Annual General Meeting and Seminar: “Workers’ Education and Civil Society”, Budapest (presentation: Civil society \u2013 a contested territory<\/em> \u2013 on GLI website)
\n(28) July 14-16: Association Club Mohamed Ali de la Culture Ouvri\u00e8re (ACMACO), 7\u00e8me Universit\u00e9 d’\u00e9t\u00e9: “Les defis sociaux dans la zone euro-m\u00e9diterran\u00e9enne”, Gammarth (speech: Mondialisation et mouvement ouvrier: impacts subis, ripostes engages<\/em> \u2013 unpublished)
\n(29) August 10: Meeting with ABF Executive, Stockholm
\n(30) August 22-26: IFWEA Executive Committee and 18th General Conference, Helsinki
\n(31) October 15-16: Euro-WEA Executive Committee, Sofia
\n(32) October 21: Fondazzjoni \u0120u\u017ce’ Ellul Mercer: Reggie Miller Seminar, Malta (speech on trade union co-operation \u2013 unpublished)
\n(33) November 18-22: IFWEA\/Euro-WEA Seminar: “Workers’ Education in a Globalized World”, George Meany Center, Silver Springs, Maryland (speech on Presentation of IFWEA and upcoming plans<\/em>” \u2013 unpublished)<\/p>\n
\n(34) February 3-4: Euro-WEA Executive Committee, London
\n(35) February 17: Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN) and IFWEA Seminar: “Challenge of Globalization to Trade Unions”, Manila (speech to the theme, published in Workers’ Education, May 2001)
\n(36) February 24-25: IFWEA Executive Committee, Dublin
\nIn his capacity of Board member of the Institut Universitaire d’Etudes du D\u00e9veloppement (IUED): Board meetings: April 12, July 5, October 24, December 6, 2000<\/p>\n
\nThe GLI Chair facilitated the affiliation of UNIA, the Swiss service sector union, to the IUF for its membership in hotels and restaurants. UNIA was jointly created by the building workers’ (GBI\/SIB) and metalworkers’ (SMUV\/FTMH) unions to organize the service sectors (distribution and catering) where union density is very low. It is the only union in the SGB\/USS with growing membership.<\/p>\n
\nInternational Solidarity Project. Paul Germanotta has completed his international survey on the status and conditions of solidarity strikes (see Activities Report 1999). The manuscript (approx. 59,000 words or 170 pages) is entitled: “Protecting worker solidarity action: The need for inspired imagination within the International Labor Organization”, and is available to GLI Board members on request in the form of a computer print-out. It now appears that it will probably not be published by the ILO\/ACTRAV, which commissioned it, at least not before 2002. However, the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) in London has indicated interest in publishing a shorter version (approx. 16,000 words) as a joint publication with the GLI. This publication is currently in preparation.<\/p>\n